Valentine’s Day

For the first time in 12 years, Andy and I didn’t so much as exchange Valentine’s Day cards.

Is that weird?

I’m not a Valentine’s Day hater…it’s just that…really…. my husband is nice to me on LOTS of days.  I don’t need there to be an official one.

Trying to explain the day to a 3 year old was extra eye opening.

“Valentine’s Day is a day that we tell people we love them and do nice things for them.”

“But I say I love you everyday.”

“Um, right.  And that’s good.  But on Valentine’s Day we do it…more…?”

“Why?”

“Um…::sweat::…well…::crack neck::…hey look!  An airplane!”

And truly, isn’t it a little strange when you stop to think of it through the eyes of a child?

While we didn’t exchange gifts, the truth is that I’m a sucker for all things holiday.

And at the end of the day…

I love loving on my family.

Going out of my way…doing extra special things…paying attention to tiny details…that’s something that just makes my heart sing.

Translation: I slaved away in the kitchen for hours.  :)

But at least I looked cute doing it in my cupcake and ruffly apron by Flirty Aprons and my Allora Handmade necklace in the perfect shade of red.  (You’ll have to excuse the blurry.  Someday I’ll figure out how to take non-lame pictures of myself.)

First up, Henry and I baked my yummiest, favoritest sugar cookies with pink and red sprinkles.

And then packaged them all up with ribbon and the CUUUUTEST Valentine’s Day printables you ever did see.

For any of you younger than 25, that would be a cassette tape.

It’s vintage.

Macaroni.

Cheese.

Smiley faces.

I die.

Red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting from Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor.

The cupcakes were GOOD.

Chocolate chips waiting inside the cake like little suprises from heaven.

We went to Andy’s office and my old office to hand out cookies and cupcakes.

It was fun.

But wrangling the three while balancing cupcakes and a basket of cookies meant there would be no pictures of Henry literally CHUCKING the cookies onto peoples’ desks.

For breakfast, I made waffles.

And I learned that waffle making is not my strong suit.

Because really, could I make a BIGGER mess???

And my FAIL of the day…because isn’t there always something that goes HORRIBLY wrong???

Or is that just me?  (tell me it’s not just me.)

I’ve had this amazing sounding raspberry whipped cream recipe that I clipped out of a Williams Sonoma magazine for YEARS.

I’ve also had this hot pink whipped cream maker doohicky for YEARS.

Waiting for the perfect occassion to buy all of the expensive ingredients.

Think fresh raspberries, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla yogurt.

Doesn’t that make your mouth water just imagining it?

Except that yours truly *assumed* that the little CO2 cartridges for Andy’s air soft gun (don’t ask) were the same thing that your rarely used whipping cream canister used.

Only to find after spending like 15 minutes pureeing, fine mesh straining, sticky raspberry everywhere-ing…

that it’s NOT the same thing.

FAIL.

So now I have a really expensive puree sitting in my fridge with no purpose in life.

Saddest thing ever.

I set a fun breakfast table.

I bought the cups and plates at Target after Valentine’s Day last year for 90% off.

I use them year round but I made it a point to put them out today.

And strawberry milk for Hen Ben.  {gag}

And I tucked this printable into Andy’s briefcase.

For dinner, I made Alcatra.

It’s a traditional Portuguese meat dish…that’s kinda like pot roast.

Except that calling it pot roast would be like calling Filet Mignon kinda like hamburger.

It has to be made in this antique clay pot…which has to soak overnight so that it doesn’t burst in the oven.

My grandpa brought it back for me one year…after searching the island shops to find they don’t sell them anymore and convinced his sister to let me have one from her own collection.

There is no real recipe…just the ingredients handed down for generations…watching your grandmother throw it all together and then letting it cook for 6 hours in the oven.

I’ve had the clay pot for probably 4 or 5 years.

Terrified to make it.

Convinced I would screw it up.

Waste a hunk of meat and entire day of cooking.

But Andy LOVES it.

So I thought I’d try my hand at it.

And I got it about 95% right.

A few tweaks and I’ll have it spot on.  So that’s exciting.

That night we dined on a traditional Portuguese dinner with all the fixin’s.

Andy brought home 2 long stem roses.

One from him.

One from Henry.

And we watched The Social Network on OnDemand.

And had a successful, no pressure Valentine’s Day.

What’d you do?

{last day to enter the Dayspring giveaway!}

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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